Review: Drabbledark — An Anthology of Dark Drabbles

Drabbledark, edited by Eric Fomley, is an anthology of 100-word-long stories (drabbles) that slither and slide along the darkest edges of fantasy, science fiction, realism, and humor.

As a supporter of a crowdfunding campaign for a different publication by the same editor, I received Drabbledark in three electronic formats (pdf, epub, and mobi). I looked at the epub and pdf versions in detail, and the formatting is excellent. I read the entire anthology on the phone (epub); the layout is clean and beautiful. I am sure reading on a Kindle or a nook would be just as enjoyable.

The collection contains 101 drabbles by 86 authors. Most stories are original submissions, the rest are high-quality reprints. If you’ve never read microfiction, be forewarned that reading 101 100-word pieces requires considerably more focus than reading 10,100 words of a longer piece. A drabble is the double-espresso shot to a short story’s or novella’s 20-oz filter coffee. A well-written drabble can deliver great emotional impact and demands great reader engagement, because every word matters. Luckily for us readers, Drabbledark contains many well-written drabbles.

The collection covers a remarkable range of topics: ghosts and apparitions, goblins, vampires, curses, the devil in its many forms, human sacrifices, body horror, cannibals, psychopaths and other murderers, entrapment, real monsters and monsters within us (especially within children), mirrors (a perennial motif in dark fiction), dystopia, artificial intelligence, politics, aliens, genetic engineering, space travel, addiction, suicide, child abuse, and, thankfully, some humor. Some of my favorites from the collection include Body Jewelry, Poor Nathan, The Lady on the Bus, Lesson Learned, Feralization, Suicide Hotline, Enchanted Leftovers, Inspiration Point, Ghosts of the Past, Midnight Imposter, A Small Misunderstanding, What Alice Wants, but this list is far from exhaustive.

In summary, I greatly enjoyed reading Drabbledark. Owing to the breadth of topics and quality of stories, which were presented within an elegant, reader-friendly layout, I would highly recommend Drabbledark as a quick introduction to the genre of dark fiction. However, beware: a likely side effect of reading this ambitious anthology of blood-curdling gems is a frighteningly deep, almost otherworldly attachment to microfiction.